ContentMart - Great Freelance Writing Platform

If you're looking for a steady stream of online freelance writing work, try ContentMart.

ContentMart makes it easy for freelance writers to find good quality writing jobs quickly.

There are always plenty of jobs posted, so writers can pick and choose the projects they want to complete. There are new projects posted every day

What's more, ContentMart accept international writers, so as long as you can write quality articles and receive good ratings from the editors and clients, it's a great way to earn a constant income.

Getting Started with ContentMart

Head over to ContentMart and create your profile. It only takes a few minutes to sign up. You'll be sent an email to verify and activate your account.

Once your account is activated, you'll be asked to complete your profile, including contact information, preferred topics or niches of expertise, and a brief writing sample (about 500 words) to show off your writing style.

Complete the Tests

Before you can start picking up any work with ContentMart you'll be asked to complete some tests to show your proficiency in the fields you've selected as your preferred topics or niches of expertise. Each test is relatively quick and easy, so get them done and completed. You're given a set of 20 questions and given a time limit of 20 minutes to answer them, although it should take much less time than this to complete the test.

Start Writing

Once you've cleared the tests to become a 'Vericate Writer', you're able to start choosing the writing jobs and projects you want to work on. There are thousands of clients who submit regular assignments to the platform, so there are always plenty of jobs to choose from.

Payment

 ContentMart has two different payment options. If you're a writer earning US dollars, your funds will be deposited into your PayPal account. However, if you're in India, you're able to withdraw any money you've earned from your writing efforts directly to your bank account once your balance reaches the minimum threshold of 3000 INR

The platform also offers a safe billing system that protects the writer. If a client assigns work to a writer and then cancels the order later, the writer still gets paid.

Referral Program

ContentMart does offer a referral program that pays 10% of the referred writer's earnings for 12 months. You'll find your referral link in your portfolio after you've completed the sign-up process.

 If you know some writers who would like the opportunity to increase their freelance writing income, you can refer them to the platform and earn a bonus for your efforts.

And yes, all the links to ContentMart shown on this page are referral links. If you sign up using this link, I get a bit of a bonus that helps me keep this blog free.

:)

GreenPrints Magazine - Freelance Writing Market

Do you have a personal story about gardening?

GreenPrints Magazine (The Weeder's Digest) is America's only not-how-to gardening magazine. They're not so concerned with the 'how' of gardening - they really want to hear more about the 'why'.

Write an article about your gardening tale and GreenPrints Magazine could pay you up to $150 US for your story.

GreenPrints Magazine wants to hear about the passion or frustration or enjoyment you get from gardening, so don't submit basic 'how-to' articles.

Their website says they want the following types of articles:

"Expressive, thoughtful, humorous, angry, contrite, flippant, searching, witty, observant, sad, inviting— whatever! We focus on the human, not how-to side of gardening."

If you're not sure what style of writing their editors want to see, take some time to browse through their sample stories (here: http://www.greenprints.com/content/7-sample-stories). These samples should give you a clearer idea of the style and tone of article they expect from submissions, which makes it easier for you to get your submissions accepted and paid for!

You'll find the full submission guidelines for GreenPrints Magazine here: http://www.greenprints.com/content/12-writer-guidelines

If you're tired of only getting paid pennies for your freelance writing, it's time to start looking at higher paying markets that pay you properly for your time and your efforts.

Good luck :)

Boost Freelance Writing Income with Cloud Crowd

Recently I received an email from a reader asking if I had heard of Cloud Crowd and whether the money making opportunities there are any good.

I had never heard of them before, so I figured I would sign up and see what it's all about. Here's what I found out:

What's Cloud Crowd About?

Basically, Cloud Crowd pays you to complete various tasks that range in pay from just pennies up to $30 per task. You can select whether you want to work on lots of really easy micro-tasks that take 30-40 seconds to complete or whether you want to work on more involved tasks, like researching and writing articles at $30 per piece.

Can Anyone Join Cloud Crowd?

Yes. Anyone with a Facebook account and a Paypal account can join Cloud Crowd.

Keep in mind that Cloud Crowd doesn't operate from a standard .com website, even though all their instructions and support forums are on a regular website. The actual work is posted to a Facebook application instead.

Once you've created your Cloud Crowd account, head over to the link that says "Earn Money Now". You can select tasks right away - however, it's strongly advised that you read the FAQ on their site so you understand what's expected of you.

Micro Jobs vs Writing Jobs on Cloud Crowd

If you intend to just complete lots of little micro-tasks to earn your money, then go right ahead and get started! The pay for this type of work is quite low, but as long as you're quick and you're careful about making sure your work is correct, you will get paid tomorrow for any approved work you do.

However, if you intend to accept more involved work, such as writing articles or press releases, editing, marketing work or proofreading, you can expect to be paid up to $25 per hour or 5 cents per word for your time for some of these more involved tasks. In order to qualify for this level of work, you will be asked to complete a Writer Credential Test.

There are several Credential Tests you'll need to take, depending on the type of work you want to complete. The majority of these are basically testing your comprehension and usage of the English language. If you're already working as a freelance writer you should find these Credential Tests very easy to pass.

Does Cloud Crowd Really Pay You?

Yes. Payment is made daily on Monday through to Friday via Paypal for any tasks you've completed that day. There is no minimum payout threshold you have to reach. You just need to have finished some tasks in your Cloud Crowd account.

So if you complete a few tasks on a Monday and they're all approved on Monday night, you can expect to see payment turn up in your Paypal account on Tuesday night.

Advantages to Working with Cloud Crowd

There are some definite advantages I've noticed when working with Cloud Crowd. Here are some of them:

1. Next Day Payment - that's always a bonus in anyone's book, right? It's even nicer that there's no minimum payout threshold you have to reach. You just get paid for any approved work you submitted.

2. Lots of Variety - if you're keen to work on the higher paying tasks, it's quite easy to earn a decent amount of money fairly quickly here. However, if you want a bit of a break from the researching or editing or whatever you're doing or you just want to fill in a bit of time at the end of a work day, you can always pick up some quick, basic categorization tasks that only take a few seconds to complete.

3. Get Paid to Review - yes, that's right. You don't even have to do the work yourself if you don't want to. You can choose to review other people's work and get paid for your time that way.

4. Correct Any Rejected Work - if your work is rejected, you still have the opportunity to correct it and resubmit it again. At least your work isn't wasted!


Downsides to Working with Cloud Crowd

As with most things, there are always negative aspects to think about. Here are some of the biggest disadvantages I noticed:

1. Peer Review - any work you submit at Cloud Crowd is reviewed by other workers on the site. If somebody decides to reject what you've submitted, you don't get paid for it unless you successfully appeal the decision. It's also a bit lame that anyone can decide to reject something you've done, even if you've followed the rules exactly. You can keep appealing those incorrect rejections, but you're limited to 16 appeals per month.

2. You Must Disable Secure Browsing - when you're working on tasks at Cloud Crowd  you are required to switch off your browser's secure browsing option. You can always turn it back on again when you've finished work, but always remember to run a good anti-virus or anti-spyware software on your computer every day or two. You'll be amazed at how much spyware and adware programs turn up on your computer the moment you switch off secure browsing. Personally, I decided to do any Cloud Crowd work on my laptop and keep my office computer safer that way.

3. 16 Appeals per 30 Days - as there are so many people working on Cloud Crowd  the number of people having perfectly good work rejected is very high. Unfortunately, you're only allowed to submit 16 appeals each month.

4. Credibility Score - everyone who works at Cloud Crowd is given a Credibility Score that doesn't seem to make much sense. Every time you complete a task, your credibility score will increase. If your work is rejected, your credibility score will decrease. If you let your score get below 30, Cloud Crowd will close your account.  While this seems like a really positive way to get people to follow the instructions and submit great work, I don't see it that way. What I see is that it takes a lot of tasks and a lot of effort to get a high score. But if you get one piece rejected, your score drops really fast.

5. They Want Your SSN - if you're in America, Cloud Crowd will ask for your SSN. I personally don't have one (I'm in Australia!!) - but for those of you in the US, you can just switch up the first two or middle two numbers in your SSN to get your foot in the door. That way no one has your details, you get your account and your identity stays safe :)


What's the Verdict for Cloud Crowd?

So far my verdict is mostly positive. For those looking for easy ways to earn quick money online that pays you the very next day, Cloud Crowd could be a great start. If you're willing to work your way through the Credential Tests, there's even the possibility of earning decent money for your time and effort.

I'd love to hear some feedback from anyone who's tried this site and had any success.

:)

Paid Forum Posting and Paid Blog Commenting on Postloop

Today I received an email from one of my readers about a site called Postloop. Apparently, this site pays writers to post in forums and leave comments on blogs.

So I thought I'd check it out and see what I could learn.

Firstly, they do accept international writers. Payments are made via Paypal for amounts over $5 USD and they'll send your payment out within 24 hours of you asking to be paid.

How Do You Join?

The site is here: Postloop

It takes about a minute to create a new account that you have to activate by clicking a link in an email they send you. Once you're done, take another minute to set up your profile. You're asked to select up to 7 interests if you want to. When you're done, save your profile.

Now, here's the part that the site doesn't make very clear. Just because you've joined up doesn't automatically mean you're going to get paid. You need to pass an approval process first.

Here's the approval process, copied directly from the FAQ page from the Postloop site:

Below is how the application process works. You must follow every step in the exact order listed:

- Join The Postloop Portal

- Subscribe to The Postloop Portal here: http://www.postloop.com/subscriptions/subscribe/369 

(this is different from joining!!!)

- Make 10 posts at The Postloop Portal

- Wait up to 24 hours for approval. Postloop staff will review your posts made, and if they are of acceptable quality, your account will be approved to start subscribing to any of the sites at Postloop. You will be notified immediately via email and inside of your Postloop account once your posts have been reviewed.

If you post and then subscribe, your posts will not count. Only posts that you make after you subscribe will count. 

Before you start complaining about making 10 posts and being ripped off by working for nothing, take a moment to think about it. The site owners need to ensure that their paid writers are willing to follow the rules. That's why they put rules here.

If you CAN follow the rules and your forum posts or blog comments are considered good quality, you're all set to start earning money. Head over to the Postloop Portal and start posting!

If you CAN'T follow the rules, your posts won't be accepted and your Postloop account will be closed.

How Much Does Postloop Pay?

The FAQ section on the Postloop website says they pay writers an average of $0.07 cents per post, depending on a range of factors. Those factors include your writer Rating and whether you're eligible to earn bonus points or not to boost your income. If you can't manage to earn any bonus points, you're paid around $0.05 cents per post.

What's the Rating System About?

Apparently, every time you submit a post it will be Rated. Your own Postloop dashboard will show what your Rating is.

If you have a Rating that is higher than 4, you become eligible to earn bonus points, which can be a great way to increase how much you earn from this site. You're able to convert those bonus points to cash and redeem them through Paypal. Your points are worth $0.05 cents per point and you need a minimum of 100 points to withdraw them.

When Do You Get Paid?

If your account balance is higher than $5, you can request Postloop to pay the amount you're owed into your Paypal account.

So there you have it. If you're looking for a way to earn a few extra bucks in your spare time, go ahead and join up with Postloop. If you've already joined up and earning money with them, please leave a comment and let others know what you think!

:)

Starting Out as a Freelance Writer

I receive a lot of emails from freelance writers keen to learn more about earning money from freelance writing. Recently, I received an email from a reader saying that my blog posts are very helpful, but there's nothing on this blog about how to get started from scratch.

Silly me! I never even thought about that in all the posts I've put on this blog. Everything I've written about is either about finding new markets or finding new clients or finding ways to diversify your income or finding ways to be more productive with your writing or increasing your pay rate or setting up your business to weather any financial storm or...

Oh wait...

Those are all things that are still relevant and pertinent to beginners as well as seasoned pros. In fact, they're even more relevant for beginners, because they're easier to put into practice while you're still building your business and your client base.

So! What should you do if you're brand new to the whole freelance writing business thing and you want to get started? Here are some quick tips:

Don't Give Up Your Day Job

Yes, you read that right. Before I went full time with this whole writing thing, I spent months building up a solid buffer of savings from my regular full time job (I worked at a boring old bank back then, but I wrote part-time in whatever free time I could find).

I stayed working full time until my little part-time writing business began to take over every waking moment. At that point, it felt like I was working two full time jobs. I approached my old boss and told him I wanted to drop to part-time hours. He refused.

So I cheated. I called up an old colleague who had left on maternity leave. They wouldn't allow her to return on part-time hours - only full time. Between us, we were capable of working full time hours in the same job role each week. So, we approached the boss with this 'job-share' arrangement. We got our part-time hours. He got the full-time role covered as he wanted. He agreed.

Working part-time hours gave me the opportunity to write even more for my clients. It also still meant I had regular income coming in from my job, so I was fine financially. I was still steadily building up my savings for the day I would go full time.

Build Up Your Client Base

Spend your spare time building up a regular client base. Look for spare writing income sources. Apply to a few content mills. Yes, these are low paying, but they'll give you some experience in writing to a deadline and sticking to client specifications for assignments.

You might prefer to start loading articles for sale on Constant Content to see if you can increase your earnings this way.

Advertise your services on freelance writing sites, like Guru.com or Freelancer.com or register with Odesk.com. These aren't ideal places to work over the long term, but they're fine to make a start and hopefully meet some new clients.

Specialize

Think about what type of writing you really enjoy.

Some writers do nothing but write web content. Others write sales copy. Some write ebooks as ghost writers. Some write magazine articles. Some write marketing scripts for video sales copy.

I tend to write anything I can handle in my available time.

I know someone who earns good money writing about her travel adventures all over the world. She loves her job and she gets to see some amazing things in her travels.

I also know someone who seriously loves writing about dogs - everything about them. Their health. Training them. Finding toys and accessories for them. Dog psychology. Dog food. You name it - she specializes in this. After some time working with online writing, she started submitting her work to print magazines. These pay FAR higher rates than online work, by the way.

Personally, I love writing about finance and money and debt and anything related to economics. It's my own specialty and I also submit my work to various magazines around the world.

Diversify Your Income Sources

Never. Never. Never. NEVER let your freelance writing business get dependent on one single source of income. If you have a really big client who pays well every month - woo hoo to you! But don't allow that one single income stream ever get bigger than 50% of your total freelance writing income.

Work on different sources of income that are derived by different means of writing. By this, I mean if you focus on web content writing, think about writing short fiction stories or magazine articles or other forms of writing that don't leave you hanging on one style.

Think about ways to increase passive income through writing wherever you can. This includes royalties from ebook sales. It includes Adsense income from blogs or even from revenue-share sites (if you must...I really don't like revenue-share personally, but it's income).  You might want to work on ways to use your writing talents to promote affiliate products. You could think about paid forum posting jobs to give you a break from writing articles.

There are plenty of things you can do to diversify your income. I've written about lots of them on this blog. Think about options that work best for you and then set your business up around what keeps you motivated.

Take the Plunge

When you have built up a bit of a savings buffer and you're at the point where your freelance business really does earn you enough money to survive on, it's time to quit your day job and go full time.

I personally took this leap three times. The first two times, I jumped too soon. I didn't have enough regular work. I didn't have enough savings to cover me during those quiet months. I didn't have enough clients to keep my income consistent. So I ended up going back to work.

The third time I tried, I did it the way I outlined above. I saved money. I wrote in my spare time. I learned to write different styles of writing in order to increase my service offerings to clients.

I kept submitting extra articles to Constant Content. I submitted articles to magazines. I write ebooks and reports and fiction novels and anything else I feel like writing.

The real key is to treat your freelance writing business like a full-time business enterprise. It's not a hobby. It's not something you do when you feel like getting out of bed. You really need to work at it.

You also have to have a plan to cover you for those times when orders go quiet. And they do. This is why the savings buffer is so important. This is why the income diversification matters so much.

So, I hope this gives you a bit of direction for your own fledgling freelance business.

Good luck!

:)

Paying Freelance Market: iWriter

Recently I received an email from a reader asking if iWriter was a good place to earn money writing articles. Personally, I had no idea how to respond, so I joined up and took a closer look at what iWriter has to offer. I thought I'd post my findings right here to help you all out.

No Approval Criteria to Become a Writer

Firstly, in order to become a writer with  iWriter , you simply create an account. There is no approval criteria to go through. This means you could be absolutely anywhere in the world and your account will be opened. Go ahead and accept a job. Write the article. Wait for it to be approved (or not). Easy.

When You Begin...

When you first join  iWriter , you start off as a 3-star rated writer, like everyone else. This means you are only eligible to take the 'standard' jobs until you receive some ratings from clients.

After you've earned more than 30 ratings and you have been rated with 4-stars or higher for a large percentage of them, you'll be able to accept the higher paying "premium" jobs. These are highlighted in yellow/green.

Writers with multiple five-star ratings will be eligible to accept even-higher paying "elite" jobs. These are highlighted in blue.

Pay Rate:

The pay rate at  iWriter is dependent on the word count of the article, the star-rating of the writer, and the topics/keywords chosen by the client.

For a 500 word article, the pay rate is as follows:

Standard Writer: $2.63 US
Premium Writer: $4.05 US
Elite Writer:  $6.48 US

Acceptance Rate

Before you pick up an article, be sure to check the 'rejection rate' of the buyer. If a buyer has a very high rejection rate, chances are that buyer is expecting a very high quality article, but only paying pennies for it. It also means that buyer may have a tendency to reject your submission, which means you won't get paid for it anyway.

My Verdict

As iWriter will accept international writers from India, Philippines, Malaysia, and pretty much every other non-native English speaking countries without even checking, I felt it only fair to list it here as a 'Paying Freelance Market' . However, the ultra-low pay rate, even for high-quality writers should really see  iWriter moved to the "freelance markets to avoid" for those writers with any other freelance writing options available.

If you're just learning the ropes and want to get your feet wet in the freelance writing world, or if you struggle to find sites that will allow international writers, give  iWriter a shot.

However, once you're past the beginner phase of your freelance writing career, get out and look for writing gigs that pay you more than pennies for your efforts.

Good Luck

Text Broker is Now Accepting International Writers

A while back, I did mention TextBroker as a paying freelance market for US writers (the original post is here: http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2009/01/textbroker-paying-freelance-market.html)

However, yesterday I received an email letting me know that TextBroker is opening a European branch to allow native-English speaking writers from the UK, Europe, Canada and Australia to apply. The UK Text Broker site is here: http://www.textbroker.co.uk

Now, being a cheeky Australian, I actually managed to join up with the US-version of Text Broker for a short time. They INSIST that writers supply a W-9 form in order to continue writing for them. I obviously can't do this, as a W-9 states that I'm an American citizen paying tax in the US. I'm not. I'm a sun-burned Aussie paying tax to the good ol' Australian Tax Office.

However, I joined up and was immediately issued a 'rating 3'. Apparently everyone begins at rating 3 until they've written a few articles for clients to prove their writing levels. On the US site, it took me a week to get moved up to level 4. I reached the $200 threshold (and thus couldn't write any more without a W-9) before I could be rated again.

Oops  ;)

Once your articles have been rated by the clients and checked by TextBroker staff, you're either moved up to a rating of 4 or 5 stars - or dropped down to a rating of 1 or 2 stars - or you might even stay where you are at 3 stars.

Either way, your rating is determined by the quality of writing you submit.

With the US TextBroker site, your pay rate is determined by your star-rating. The UK-version of TextBroker is exactly the same.

Pay for the UK site will be in Euros via Paypal. You will need to have a balance of €10 or higher to be eligible for pay out. Payments are made on the 6th of each month.

Pay Rates with TextBroker UK

The pay rates for a regular 500 word article are as follows:

2 stars: €3.50 (approx $4.70 USD)
3 stars: €4.50 (approx $6.04 USD)
4 stars: €6.00 (approx $8.05 USD)
5 stars: €20.00 (approx $26.88 USD)

These pay rates equate to the following amounts per word:

2 stars: 0.7 cents Euro
3 stars: 0.9 cents Euro
4 stars: 1.2 cents Euro
5 stars: 4 cents Euro

So - if you're in the UK, Europe, Canada or Australia and you want to join TextBroker, visit http://www.textbroker.co.uk. They're accepting writer applications now before opening up the site to clients, but work is expected to start coming through in the next week or so.

Good luck!


Edit: As a side-note, I wonder if their editors will make allowances for the differences in acceptable punctuation and grammar between UK English and the heavily-modified US-English styles? Again, I'll update this post when I learn more.

More Writers Wanted!

Yes folks, I have another friend who is searching for good, reliable writers. Not just article writers this time. This particular job will suit anyone looking for some paid forum posting, paid blog commenting or paid Twitter posting as well as writing articles.

So if you're interested in picking up some extra writing work, the details about how to apply are below this post.

==============================

Here's what she needs:

For forum posters;
We are looking for writers who can succinctly state their opinions, likes or dislikes. Forum posts have a minimum word count of only 25 words, and as a result you need to be able to make an interesting point briefly, rather than just writing 'filler' posts.

We also require proper use of English grammar and spelling, though both US and UK spelling is tolerated for applications. Some job sites require the spelling and grammar conventions of just one country however.

The ability to properly use paragraphs is also required, in order to make longer posts make sense.

Applicants must be able to follow instructions, and in order to establish this there is a set application process that they must work through.

Lastly we are looking for people who can interact with other politely. Those who are short with others, or worse-are rude-will be rejected.

Never do we mention that we are paid to be on a website, and never do we do anything that makes us stand out. Our job is to blend in, and make it seem like we are just another member who has stumbled across the website and has decided to join and to post.

For Twitter jobs;
This is a little more specialized. Twitter allows only 140 characters per tweet, and as such, Twitter posts must be even more succinct. It is also important to be able to use as many of the 140 characters as possible, and to be able to make a big impact with those very short statements.

For blog jobs;
Here it is important to read the material given and be able to reply appropriately, so this requires a slightly higher level of comprehension than other jobs do.

Third party posting jobs;
Occasionally we are hired to write posts on other people's websites that advertise a particular product. This may be by mentioning the product in passing, or by using our signature space to advertise. These jobs require a big effort in order to have the writer fit in with the members already there, and we must blend in or else the campaign is likely to fail.

For article writers;
Now here it is a little harder to lay out the requirements. It is fair to say that successful applicants must have the skills previously laid out. But there is a lot more to it.

In order to write an article and do it well, you must have an excellent grasp of written English. You must be able to use grammar and spelling correctly, as well as use the appropriate phrasing at the appropriate times.

It is important that articles are written with a more text book version of English than you may otherwise use, because this enables it to be understood by people from around the world. In the UK we call this 'Queen's English', or 'BBC English'. Unfortunately, the use of colloquialisms and local phraseology can be confusing as those terms tend to only be understood by people from the areas in which the colloquialisms originate. Since the web is world wide, we want to be able to reach as big an audience as possible.

Additionally there is a distinct need to be able to carry a train of thought, and to organize thoughts into a logical progression throughout the article. There needs to be a beginning, a middle that fleshes out the theme and a conclusion-just like writing a story.

Potential article writers will do well if in high school or college, they were able to complete written assignments comfortably. Avid readers are also likely to do well, if they are able to emulate the authors that they read. Those people who are exposed frequently to high quality English writing are going to do better than those who only read the 'scandal' media, or worse. No IM or text speak is tolerated, and it must be remembered at all times that written work is professional and not for pleasure.

This means that it is important to discuss the themes and opinions that the client wants, and to express the bias that matches their website. If they are selling a particular product then you would sing it's praises-but within the realms of reality. You would not discuss the bad points associated with the product you are writing about.

Articles are almost never written in the first person, with the exception being a client that requests a first person point of view. Instead an extreme third person is used-you never discuss your own thoughts or feelings and don't talk about things that happen to you. Articles must be detached from your own life, and though it is OK to use your own experiences, you should do so in a way that makes the article seem neutral. Again, there are exceptions to this rule but then this will be stated.

The final point applies to any of the jobs that we have. Writers are expected to always take the client and their needs into consideration. It is common sense that if we are writing on a forum that is on a website that sells a certain piece of software, that you wouldn't instead write about their biggest competitor. We don't link to external sites unless it is a requirement of the job, as we may instead end up sending traffic away from the client who has hired us.

Across the board, all of our jobs require the ability to research the subjects that you are working on. Even those subjects that you are familiar with will occasionally need a more obscure question looking up, and for that reason, anyone applying for a position with us must be comfortable with researching online.

Humility is the last and most important characteristic of a member of our staff. Never be too proud to ask where something is unclear. For that leads to errors and unhappy clients-and that makes us unhappy too. There are established protocols for seeking help, and a large staff of writers who are normally willing to help a wayward newbie-and a staff of moderators and admin staff who are also available when needed.

======================================

Click here to read instructions on how to apply for a position within this team: http://paidforumposting.com/forums/index.php/topic,6455.msg66132.html#msg66132

And don't forget to tell Di that Bianca sent you!
:)

Freelance Writers Wanted

EDIT: this was published in February 2011. As people are still responding in November 2011, I've closed off the ability to leave any new comments. My friend has enough writers now. Thank you.



Yes, it's true. My friend is looking for freelance writers to write articles, web copy, ebooks, blog posts and other assorted jobs. There are far too many orders coming in for her existing team to keep up with, so she's seeking more.

Here are the basics:

You must be able to write in US or UK English. You must be able to follow the client's preferences for formatting and style. You must adhere to deadlines. You must be willing to communicate if you have problems meeting deadlines so someone else can help you. The topics vary all the time, so we never know what to expect next. You must not submit plagiarized work - originals only. You are only expected to accept the amount of work you can reasonably complete by the deadline date. You must be willing to WORK. And you must love writing.

It sounds easy, right?

However, there is a catch...

You see, she has several writers already working with her little team (some on a full-time basis, others part-time) and they seem to have plenty of work when they want it. But despite her best efforts in the past two weeks to find new writers, she's found only lemons.

Here's a run-down of just SOME of the quality for the most recent batch of  "freelance writers" has been like that she's seen in the past two weeks:

1. One writer began working for the team, accepted the work this writer felt could be done by the deadline shown and was promptly never heard from again, leaving those jobs untouched, incomplete and needing to be completed by someone else in a mad hurry to try and meet the deadline.

2. One writer was so desperate for any work at all that there were promises made of being able to complete at least 10 articles a day - every day - without any problems. My friend was happy that someone would want to do that, so accepted this writer based on the strength of good samples. Two articles were completed. Both were woefully written and not in native-English at all - in fact, not even close to the quality of samples shown. When asked to rewrite the first two articles submitted, that writer also decided it was too hard, didn't do them and didn't complete the rest of the orders that had already been accepted. Needless to say, that writer won't be receiving any more work.

3. One writer was absolutely thrilled to be a part of a team of professional, full-time writers and was eager to get started. This writer was given plenty of work to choose from - but promptly decided it was all way too intimidating and ran away.

4. Our next lucky contestant was told that each of the jobs allocated show the word count, the pay rate, deadline, keywords required and any formatting requirements that client expects. Of course, all work is Copyscaped checked for uniqueness before being submitted to the clients, so it goes without saying that you can't submit plagiarized work. The writer accepted some jobs and completed them very quickly. Unfortunately, they were copied directly of someone else's website. They didn't include the keywords required at the density requested - and they weren't even formatted in the way the client expects and is paying for.

5. Our final contestant picked up a reasonable, realistic amount of work, made it clear that the work would be completed on time and even gave updates to let my friend know they'd be on time throughout the week. Yet when the deadline day rolled around, that writer was nowhere to be found. No responses on email or Skype. No contact at all. In fact, it's been three days and still no contact. Someone else had to complete that already-overdue job in a mad hurry to get it to an angry client

So...

If you think you're anything like any of the above ex-writers mentioned, then stop reading now. This post doesn't concern you. My friend simply doesn't need writers like this.

Writers who do these things don't tend to receive offers to work on a full-time basis. They don't receive repeat orders. Writers who accept jobs and promise to complete them on time, only to think of something more interesting to do instead also won't be needed.

However, if you believe you're able to write simple, legible articles in native ENGLISH (yes, we can tell...) and you can follow the client's instructions for the articles they are paying to have done THEIR way, you're welcome to apply.

How to Apply

As a way to test whether you CAN follow instructions or not, please apply by adhering to the following instructions. If you can't complete this simple step, chances are you won't be contacted.

Please leave a brief comment after this post letting me know of your interest in joining the team. Feel free to let me know if you've written before or not. If you're in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, or South Africa, let me know your location. If you live elsewhere in the world, you may still be considered, but your English will need to be of a high standard.

If you have a blog or a website, link to it where the comments section asks for your name and URL. Make SURE there is a way for me or my friend to contact you on that blog. If you have samples on your blog/website, we'll read them. If you don't, we may ask for them.

If you do not have a blog or website, please leave your email address formatted as follows:

yourname (at) extensionname (dot) com

Do not write out your email address in full using the @ symbol. This will encourage more spam to arrive in your own inbox and it brings way too many scammers to my blog.

If you can follow these instructions, my friend and I will be going through those compliant applications over the next week or so.

I'd love to see you all on the team, so don't let me down...

:)

Content Authority - Paying Freelance Market

Content Authority is hiring writers. Content Authority is a content mill with a very similar structure and tier level system to Text Broker. Reports from other writers show that there seems to be plenty of work available at the moment with this company.

The pay rate is adjusted according to the writer's Tier level. However, you will be paid on what quality is requested - NOT what tier level you are. If you are a tier 2 writer and you complete an order that is tier 1 work, you will be paid at the tier 1 rate. If you are a tier 2 and you get a request for a tier 2 you will be paid the tier 2 rates. This is an important distinction to remember when you're calculating how much you hope to earn each week as a writer with Content Authority.

Content Authority pay weekly via PayPal.

Tier 1 Flat Rates

200 Words $ 1.40
300 Words $ 2.10
400 Words $ 2.80
500 Words $ 3.50
600 Words $ 4.20
700 Words $ 4.90
800 Words $ 5.60


Tier 2 Flat Rates
200 Words $ 2.00
300 Words $ 3.00
400 Words $ 4.00
500 Words $ 5.00
600 Words $ 6.00
700 Words $ 7.00
800 Words $ 8.00
900 Words $ 9.00


Tier 3 Flat Rates:
200 Words $ 3.00
300 Words $ 4.50
400 Words $ 6.00
500 Words $ 7.50
600 Words $ 9.00
700 Words $ 10.50
800 Words $ 12.00
900 Words $ 13.50
1000 Words $ 15.00

You'll find the writer application form here: http://thecontentauthority.com/application-writers.php

Writers Wanted...

I heard a rumor that a potential new writing opportunity might be available...

Today I had coffee with a good friend (okay, it was my mentor and friend, Lee) and she told me about a new project she's working on. Lee and another freelance writer she knows are cooking up a way to outsource some of their work load to other writers because they simply can't keep up with the orders they receive. They had a brainstorming session and learned that they could probably hire 10 or 12 writers comfortably and still have plenty of work for themselves as well.

When I heard this my eyes popped and I immediately ordered her another coffee and a slice of cake (bribery goes a long way, I hear...)

You see, both Lee and her writer friend have decided to try and hunt down writers who can work quickly and accurately in both US and UK English to help them meet the demands of their clients.

Some of the work will be quick, easy website content. Some will be SEO articles for article marketers and site owners and some of the work will be quick blog posts, product reviews and blurbs. Some will be press releases, chapters in e-books, sales page copywriting and whatever else they end up with.

Of course I volunteered to help them out.

Lee agreed to let me give you all a hint about this potential opportunity on my blog to see who's interested and who isn't. It's okay if you haven't had much experience. They're willing to work with writers from anywhere in the world with a PayPal account as long as the writing is of a good quality.

...but there's a catch...

If you're interested in registering yourself for their list of available writers, then you'll need to be able to follow instructions. Their clients expect their orders to be fulfilled according to their own specifications. They'll expect you to adhere to those specifications the same way they would. So here are the instructions for registering yourself at a potential candidate on their list.

Leave a comment on this post and include a link behind your name pointing to somewhere we can view your work. This could be your blog, website, content site, article directory - whatever. We'll be able to find you and contact you this way. Give us an idea of what your preferred writing topics are, your areas of expertise and where in the world you live. Don't forget to add a little about what type of writing you prefer to do. (e.g. If you only want articles and SEO content, then say so.) Specify whether you write in US or UK English so they know who to consider for different client's needs.

Pay rates haven't been worked out yet and the work also won't be allocated for a little while yet as they're working hard on finding a system that works for them as well as for the clients. However, they also wanted to be sure they would have a good selection of writers when things started moving along.

Let's hope Lee and her friend get moving quickly on this one :)

NeutralExistence - Paying Freelance Market

Are you interested in earning some money by writing about environmental issues?

NeutralExistence are seeking writers willing to write articles on going green, reducing emissions, eco-tips and helping to save our environment. Pay is between $20-$30 per article - but remember that NeutralExistence pay 1/2 of your payment upfront and the other half in 60 days AFTER they've verified that you haven't published the same article all over the internet.

To get an idea of what kind of articles are accepted, read through their archives. If you think this is the kind of thing you can write, then visit NeutralExistence, check their writer's guidelines and submit your articles!

Happy writing.

:)

Finding Freelance Writing Work

I've been getting a lot more emails than usual about how to find freelance work. I'm assuming the people who've written these emails either haven't read through some of the older posts on my blog or they haven't taken some time to look around on the internet.

I'll make it easy for you and post all the links right here on one post so you have easy access to market listings, content mills, article submission sites and more.

The only choices you need to make are:

1. Does that market you're looking at accept applications for where you live?

2. How much does that market pay and is it worth my time and effort?

3. What rights are they buying from me?

What this means is that you need to READ the 'writer application' guidelines to check that you're able to apply for that market. You need to check that you'll be adequately compensated for your time and you need to know which rights you're selling.

So... without further ado, here are some links that will help you find plenty of freelance work today.

Beginner-Freelance Level

No experience necessary. Just sign up and post away. There's no worries about spelling or grammar. Most of these places don't care if you're an international writer. Just post and you'll get paid a little bit.

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2009/01/freelance-writers-who-dont-want-to-be.html

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/12/paid-forum-posting-jobs.html

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/12/get-paid-to-rant.html

Intermediate-Freelance Level

If you're happy to write a few articles or blog posts then there are a few content mills around who would love to see your article submissions. Most of these don't care if you're only just starting out and some of them don't care if you're an international writer. They will expect your article to be grammatically correct and spelling-error free though.

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/search/label/Paying%20Freelance%20Markets

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/11/freelance-job-sites-and-online-writing.html

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/08/making-money-with-constant-content.html

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/10/hidden-writing-markets.html

Advanced-Freelance Level

There are quite a few posts on this blog for the more advanced writers. I've actively linked to some of the professional paying writing opportunities that are available. You can find these more advanced (and much higher paying) writing markets here:

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/08/where-to-sell-your-writing.html

http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/10/high-paying-vs-low-paying-writing.html

WordsOfWorth - Paying Freelance Market

I've received a lot of comments and emails from non-US writers (mostly UK and Australian writers, but a few European and Indian writers too) - and they're all wondering where all the writing markets are that accept non-US writers.

So I've been searching high and low for everything I can find. After all, the British pound pays SO well in Aussie dollars and even exchanges well into US! ;)

This is how I found WordsOfWorth.

This UK market assigns writers contracts for work that involves up to 80 short articles a month paid at £250 per month (For you Aussies that's around $575 per month and for anyone in the US that's approx $355 per month)

Now before you panic and think "OH NO! 80 articles a month? No way Raven!"

Let's break it down a bit. 80 articles a month is 20 articles a week, which is 4 articles per day across a 5 day working week. These are NOT long, involved articles. WordsOfWorth are seeking informative blog posts.

If you type quickly, you should be able to churn out 4 of these in an hour at the end of a working day.

So if you'd like to look into WordsOfWorth as an option for a bit of extra money each month, then you can find their writer's application here:
http://www.wordsofworth.co.uk/apply-to-be-a-writer

Good luck!

PLR Article Market - Paying Freelance Market

I don't know if you remember me telling you about my friend who made $650 in one day from PLR Articles? She owns her own PLR articles site and advertises the article packages she has available to webmasters.

(you can see that post here:http://ravens-writing.blogspot.com/2008/12/profiting-from-plr-articles.html)

I don't have time to set up, write articles for and promote a brand new site, so I went hunting for a ready-made PLR site willing to accept article packages from writers everywhere. Of course I found one!

Niche-Content-Packages.com
http://www.niche-content-packages.com/sell-content.php
These guys advertise your PLR articles for you on their site. You set your own prices and then Niche-Content-Packages pay 60% of any sales received.

Now a 40% cut of your work is kind of high - but it's sure easier than starting a brand new site with no visitors from scratch.

Good luck.

LoveToKnow - Paying Freelance Market

LoveToKnow is seeking writers and editors for their sites, which include some of the following topics:

• Money and Finances
• Shopping and Fashion
• Beauty
• Entertainment
• Health and Wellness
• Technology
• Travel
• Games and Hobbies
• and more...

Writers and editors should be able to display extensive experience within the chosen topic along with professional writing and editing experience.

Pay is approximately $20-25 per article. All articles are expected to be more than 600 words long.

http://www.lovetoknow.com/write-for-us.htm

Personal Money Store - Paying Freelance Market

Personal Money Store will buy 525 word articles on specific finance topics. Articles must be previously unpublished. Pay rate is around 5 cents per word (approx $25 per article).

They do insist that you research their preferred topics thoroughly and include their chosen keywords several times throughout your article.

Keep in mind that the type of comments already shown on Personal Money's blog post show you the level of writers they're not really looking for (you know the ones - the comments from people that say fun things like "plz tell me how to start I write good english plz tell me how to get payed" - and then these same people wonder why they're not getting paid. Go figure.)

These kinds of comments tell the editors who will be paying out good money for quality work exactly what kind of writer you really are before they even read your article. The submission instructions are clearly written on the page. Read them. Understand them. Write your article and then submit.

Here's the writer's guidelines page:

http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/pay-per-post-we-buy-articles/

Good luck.


(p.s. you can check out my own contributions to this blog here: http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/17/top-10-ways-increase-credit-score/
or
http://personalmoneystore.com/moneyblog/2009/03/19/loan-modification-stop-foreclosure/ )

DailyArticle - Paying Freelance Market

DailyArticle are seeking writers to submit articles on any topic you like to their database. Clients choose articles they like or that will suit their sites and pay the price set by the writer.

Yes - that's right. You get to set your own price for your work. Be aware before you submit anything that you're selling full rights. This is a ghost-writing gig, so that means you don't get a byline or a link-back. The customer is buying full rights to your work.

Of course the management of DailyArticle check every submission for uniqueness and plagiarism. Payment is very quick via PayPal, ranging between 1 and 4 days. Each time a customer buys one of your articles, payment is processed. This can mean plenty of extra cashflow if you write well on popular topics.

To begin submitting your articles to DailyArticle, simply create an account and submit your work.

Good luck.

TextBroker - Paying Freelance Market

If you're looking for a great, quick money-making article site, then TextBroker could be the site for you. I joined up only a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd give it a shot before blogging about it.

I joined up and was immediately issued a 'rating 3'. Apparently everyone begins at rating 3 until they've written a few articles for clients to prove their writing level. Once you've had your articles rated by the clients and checked by TextBroker's staff, you could either be moved up to a rating of 4 or 5 stars or down to a rating of 2 stars - or you might stay where you are at 3 stars.

TextBroker's Payment is based on your rating and your rating is based on your performance. Payment is via PayPal once a month.

At 2 stars rating pay is 0.7 cent per word
At 3 stars rating pay is 1 cent per word
At 4 stars rating pay is 1.5 cents per word
At 5 stars rating pay is 5 cents per word

TextBroker will only accept applications from US writers. So if you're in the US, then maybe TextBroker might be an option for you to increase your freelance writing income.

(p.s. my next blog post will explain how an Australian writer gets to write for US-only markets legally...)

Delegate2 - Paying Freelance Market

During my never-ending quest to find more UK income sources (the exchange rate from pounds to Aussie dollars is just SO good right now...), I found a pretty cool writing market I haven't seen before. Unfortunately I believe they're paying in US dollars via PayPal - but money is still money.

Delegate2 is an upfront paying article site. The pay isn't huge - but it's not bad at all for the short word counts they're asking for. Pay rate begins at $3 per 250 word article and goes up from there depending on your assignment and word counts. At the speed at which I type, I can squeeze out 6 of these little short pieces in an hour (hmmm.... that's $27.69 per hour in Aussie dollars). At the end of a hard day after dealing with your other higher writing markets, perhaps dedicating an hour on these little shorties will help top up your income? It all adds up.

Delegate2 is based in the UK, so if you're an international writer (like me), they won't insist you have to be an American in order to join. You simply fill out the application form on the site and they'll email you a VERY large writer's welcome pack.

The reason behind the VERY large writer's welcome pack is partly their way of making sure you're able to follow instructions, but also to show you precisely how they expect their writers to work, when they expect you to send in your invoice for payment etc.

While it's not great money, it's not bad for such quick easy work.

:)